Russian energy giant Gazprom said its daily supplies of natural gas to Europe had reached another record high due to freezing cold and snowstorms that hit Europe lately.
Gazprom said in a statement that natural gas flows to what it calls the Far Abroad – Europe and Turkey but not the former Soviet Union countries – hit a new daily record of 621.8 million cu m on Sunday.
That is the highest ever daily flow of Russian gas to Europe and Turkey, and came on a weekend day, when consumption usually declines, Gazprom noted in the statement.
The previous daily record of 615.5 million cu m of natural gas was set on January 6.
“In addition, for five days in a row (4-8 January) deliveries via Nord Stream have been performed on the level of 165.2 mcm per day, which exceeds the design capacity of the pipeline by 10%.”
Gazprom increasing market share
Gazprom is continuing to increase its market share in Europe despite EU attempts to reduce reliance on Russian natural gas.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, including from the U.S., are being considered as one of the main options to add to supply diversity in Europe.
However, only four cargoes of U.S. LNG, including one to Turkey, have landed in Europe since Cheniere’s Sabine Pass LNG export terminal started exporting the chilled fuel in February last year.
Supplies to Europe are expected to increase as new LNG projects from Australia and the U.S. come onstream.
Gazprom said in October last year it sees no threat from U.S. LNG supplies coming to the European market. The Russian gas conglomerate said then that in the European market “U.S. LNG was losing” against the company’s pipeline gas deliveries.
LNG World News Staff